Monday, May 01, 2017

How an LED Works via Today I Found Out

Learning is an amazing thing. I try to learn something new everyday on the “Today I Found Out” web site and YouTube Channel are a great way to do that. While I understood some of the basics of how LEDs work, this article provides an in-depth analysis of all the complicated things that go on inside and LED even though it seems simple on the surface. Dive into the inner workings of the LED and more on this excellent web site. — Douglas

Today I found out how an LED works. An LED or “Light Emitting Diode” is basically as the name describes; it is a special type of diode that is specifically optimized to give off light, usually in the visual or infrared spectrum, as electricity is passed through it.

A diode is a special type of semiconductor that has many uses. One of the principle uses though is to control the direction of the flow of electricity. The most common type of diode does this by using something called “p-n junctions”. This is just a fancy way of saying “magic”. 😉